Literary Analysis: Tone

Christian DeLano

G block

4-5-12

Although both Have a Cigar and Rock n’ Roll Band both involve the rise of fame and success in the music industry, Have a Cigar uses cynical tone in order to make a mockery of the record labels, while Rock n’ Roll Band employs the use of ecstatic tone in order to underline the struggle to become famous and the perks that becoming famous has.

In the song Have a Cigar the band utilizes a cynical tone, to show the relationship the band had with the record label, and their agents, managers, ect. The band uses this mocking style of song writing to illustrate the way their agents treated them. “Well I've always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely.
The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which one's Pink?”  This excerpt from the song shows that the agent had an impersonal relationship with the group, and was only interested in the amount of money the band was making him. The impersonal relationship is shown by the agent thinking that “Pink” was actually a member of the group. “You owe it to the people. We're so happy we can hardly count. Everybody else is just green, have you seen the chart? It's a helluva start, it could be made into a monster if we all pull together as a team.” This portion of the song shows that the label is more interested in money than the bands success. The line “if we all pull together as a team” in the context of the song is meant to serve as sarcasm, and show that it’s just a meaningless phrase uttered by their agent to make them feel at ease.

Meanwhile, in the song Rock n’ Roll Band , Boston utilizes an ecstatic tone to highlight the positive side of being in the music industry. While looking at the lyrics without ever listening to the song, one would think that the song was pointing out the negative side with such lyrics as “…sleepin' in our cars
And we practiced right on out in the street” and “No, we didn't have much money
We barely made enough to survive” but in the manner in which the music is played and the lyrics sung, you can tell that those memories are now nostalgic, and were events that propelled them to stardom. What differs in this song is the relationship with the agent. “He smoked a big cigar, and drove a Cadillac car, and said, "Boys, I think this bands outta-sight, sign a record company contract, you know I've got great expectations, when I hear you on the car radio,  you're gonna be a sensation!" you can tell by the tone of the song, that when they are talking to this man, he is genuine in thinking that the band will be a success and that he is excited for them to become “a sensation”.

Both Songs both utilize the literary device tone, but both very differently. In Have a Cigar, the band wants to show the negative relationship they had with the record label, and the struggles they had. While in Rock n’ Roll Band, they show the positive relationship they had with their agent and record label, and the good times they had becoming so famous.